In yesterday’s installment of As the State House Turns, Gov. Deval Patrick scored a rare political victory against frenemy and House Speaker Sal DiMasi by canceling a contract that was awarded in a rushed bidding process. Never one to take a defeat lying down, DiMasi came back with a vengeance and attacked Patrick where he’s weakest—casinos.

And this time, it’s personal.

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Each Friday, Paul McMorrow will take you inside the smoke-filled rooms and darkly-lit corridors of government to bring you the hottest and juiciest political tidbits. This week: We’re all casinos all the time.

Hey, guess what everybody? Gov. Deval Patrick wants to build three casinos in Massachusetts. He’s been saying that they’ll bring 30,000 jobs in tow. Turns out, they won’t. Shocking, we know. But this stunning revelation gripped Beacon Hill, and all other concerns were crowded out.

Most close observers (depending on whom you read) have known for several months now that the governor’s casino research is compromised and his economic assumptions are shaky. And now that the town’s paper of record has spoken on the subject, the fan is really covered in it.

The administration has even stopped citing its 30,000 jobs figure, and taken to speaking of “tens of thousands” of jobs instead. That’s a significant fact, because it marks the first time in this whole gambling debate that reporting has been able to knock the administration off its talking points. (more…)

We love watching fights on reality TV shows. When two contestants all but hiss like feral cats at the sight of each other, it makes for great entertainment. However, it’s distressing when we see this behavior from Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi.

The war of words between the two men continues to escalate. This time, it’s Patrick who is laying the verbal smackdown.

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Last week, we learned a lot about the relationship between Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi. We heard all about the couple’s attempts to keep the lines of communication open and how they like to “giggle” about their public feuds in private.

The men should have a lot to laugh about behind closed doors today. Inspired by the Globe’s report that Patrick lowballed the number of construction jobs that would be created by three casinos, DiMasi gave his grievances a very public airing out.

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Each Friday, Paul McMorrow will take you inside the smoke-filled rooms and darkly-lit corridors of government to bring you the hottest and juiciest political tidbits. This week: Sal’s work on his short game threatens the commonwealth, or not, John Tobin fires a shot across Tom Menino’s bough, plus Pervs! Casinos! And Chuck Turner!

The most talked-about man on Beacon Hill continued to be widely talked about this week, as news that Speaker Sal DiMasi has been playing golf with a decades-old friend, while not playing golf with a guy with a horrific haircut sparked an ethics uproar. It’s the surest sign yet that the state GOP has given up trying to win elections altogether, and will now focus solely on lobbing wobbly ethics complaints at its Democratic foes. (And that Scot Lehigh hasn’t met a bad golf metaphor he doesn’t like.)

The threat golf poses to democracy extends far beyond the current casino debate, though. Boston minorities who enjoy voting had better watch their backs: DiMasi occasionally hits the links with former Speaker Tom Finneran. Can federal voting rights violations, disgrace, and tears be far behind? (more…)

Each Friday, Paul McMorrow will take you inside the smoke-filled rooms and darkly-lit corridors of government to bring you the hottest and juiciest political tidbits. This week: Coastal legislators are peeved, casino proponents are suspicious, and the new Pike Director offers a bleak, yet highly quotable, assessment.

These are strange times for the state’s coastal legislators. First, in November, they were subjected to an energy bill sneak attack that opened up their coastlines to unfettered wind farm development. They balked, as did the Senate, which had been pushing an oceans management bill authored by Senator Robert O’Leary (pictured) as a way to set up a framework for plopping turbines down in the water.

The senate had threatened to hold Sal DiMasi’s energy bill hostage if the House didn’t act on their oceans bill, so House leadership pushed a gutted, bizzaro version of the senate’s bill to the floor last week.

Turns out, it wasn’t a whole lot more than a reworded version of an amendment leadership tried to cram through in November—reportedly at the behest of prospective developer Jay Cashman.

“It’s not much of an oceans bill,” O’Leary told us. “It doesn’t set up a meaningful planning process that has any teeth, and without that, it’s just an exercise, something that ends up on a shelf. I’m disappointed.” (more…)

See if you can follow this: Gov. Deval Patrick, who supports gambling, endorsed Barack Obama, who views it suspiciously. Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi, the state’s number one adversary of gaming is behind Hillary Clinton, who happens to think that casinos aren’t such bad thing.

So, if Patrick gets what he wants and Obama is elected, he may not get what he wants with casinos. If DiMasi has his way and Clinton prevails, then that could also end up working to the Speaker’s disadvantage.

To further confuse things, Obama is reportedly an avid poker player. (more…)

Considering that the state has a significant economic interest in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s effort to put the land for their planned casino in Middlebrough into federal trust, it’s no surprise that Gov. Deval Patrick officially filed his opposition yesterday with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

If the tribe is blocked from pursuing a casino on sovereign land, they will be forced to participate in Patrick’s proposed plan to auction off three state gaming licenses. If they’re granted the land, then they’re home free to open a casino outside of state control. So the state’s motives seem fairly straight forward.

The operative question, given the state’s obvious economic agenda, is will the Bureau of Indian Affairs view Patrick’s opposition seriously, or dismiss it as just self-interested jockeying?

How about both? (more…)

As you may have heard, a massive primary election is planned for this Tuesday involving the biggest names in national politics (I even saw one of them on Oprah). Most folks are not quite as tuned in to the primary campaigns for the four open seats in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

With all due respect to the State House hopefuls, generally these things aren’t worth much more than two yawns and a head-scratch. But the campaign in at least one district does offer some interesting perspective on the state’s casino debate—or at least what Gov. Deval Patrick hopes becomes the state’s casino debate. (more…)

Gov. Deval Patrick has a right to be fed up with the legislature. Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi and friends have a history of not taking up Patrick’s proposals in the most timely manner, and it appears the Speaker is up to his old tricks with Patrick’s casino bill.

We told you to expect this in the January issue of our magazine, so there’s little surprise here. Patrick’s core constituency of grassroots liberals largely view casinos as yet another regressive tax, so the longer the governor has to trumpet his proposal, the more supporters he’ll lose.

A weaker Governor, of course, makes for a stronger Speaker. And Patrick didn’t do himself any favors yesterday. (more…)